Online engagement platform for video creators

ABSTRACT

A request of a channel owner is received to enable an online community option to facilitate communications between the channel owner and viewers of a channel of the channel owner on a content sharing platform. The online community option is associated with the channel in a data store, and a channel GUI comprising a GUI element representing the online community option is provided for presentation to the channel owner. An online community GUI is provided to allow the channel owner to submit a post to initiate online conversation with viewers of the channel. The channel GUI is provided for presentation to a viewer of the channel. In response to a selection of the GUI element representing the online community option, the online community GUI comprising the post of the channel owner is provided, and the viewer of the channel is allowed to respond to the post.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to the field of online engagement platforms and,in particular, to an online engagement platform for video creators.

BACKGROUND

On the Internet, social media platforms (e.g., social network platforms,content sharing platforms, etc.) allow users to connect to and shareinformation with each other. Many social media platforms include acontent sharing aspect that allows users to upload, view, and sharecontent, such as video content, image content, audio content, textcontent, and so on (which may be collectively referred to as “mediaitems” or “content items”). Such media items may include audio clips,movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur content suchas video blogging, short original videos, pictures, photos, othermultimedia content, etc. Users may use computing devices (e.g., clientdevices such as smart phones, cellular phones, laptop computers, desktopcomputers, netbooks, tablet computers) to play and/or consume mediaitems (e.g., watch digital videos, and/or listen to digital music).

SUMMARY

The following is a simplified summary of the disclosure in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is intendedto neither identify key or critical elements of the disclosure, nordelineate any scope of the particular implementations of the disclosureor any scope of the claims. Its sole purpose is to present some conceptsof the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detaileddescription that is presented later.

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method includes receiving, from aprocessing device of a content sharing platform, a request of a channelowner to enable an online community option to facilitate communicationsbetween the channel owner and viewers of a channel of the channel owneron the content sharing platform; associating the online community optionwith the channel; providing a channel graphical user interface (GUI)comprising a GUI element representing the online community option forpresentation to the channel owner; in response to a selection of the GUIelement representing the online community option by the channel owner,providing an online community GUI to allow the channel owner to submit apost to initiate an online conversation between the viewers of thechannel and the channel owner; providing the channel GUI comprising theGUI element representing the online community option for presentation toa viewer of the viewers of the channel; and in response to a selectionof the GUI element representing the online community option by theviewer of the channel, providing the online community GUI comprising thepost of the channel owner, and allowing the viewer of the channel torespond to the post of the channel owner.

In some implementations, providing the online community GUI to allow thechannel owner to submit the post comprises: providing a post creationGUI comprising: a first GUI element to receive input of a post title; asecond GUI element to receive input of a post body; and a third GUIelement to receive input of a permissible response type.

In some implementations, the post creation GUI further comprises afourth GUI element to receive input of a post attachment type. In someimplementations, the method further includes receiving a response of theviewer to the post of the channel owner; and providing the response fordisplay to the viewers and the channel owner. In some implementationsthe method further includes receiving a response of the viewer to thepost of the channel owner; and providing the response for display to thechannel owner but not other viewers.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a method includes receiving firstinput of a first user posting content on a social media platform, thefirst input specifying a permissible response type for future responsesto the posted content, the permissible response type being selected froma plurality of response types by the first user; receiving the postedcontent provided by the first user; associating the permissible responsetype with the posted content in a data store; providing the postedcontent for display on the social media platform; receiving a firstresponse of a second user to the posted content; determining, by aprocessing device, whether a response type of the first responsecorresponds to the permissible response type for the posted content fromthe data store; in response to determining that the response type of thefirst response corresponds to the permissible response type, providing,by the processing device, the first response for display on the socialmedia platform; and in response to determining that the response type ofthe first response does not correspond to the permissible response type,preventing, by the processing device, the first response from beingdisplayed on the social media platform.

In some implementations, the method further includes: in response toproviding the posted content for display on the social media platform,sending a notification to a subset of members of the social mediaplatform, the notification indicating that the posted content wasdisplayed.

In some implementations, the first response is privately displayed to anaccount associated with the first user. In some implementations, thefirst response is publicly displayed to a plurality of members of thesocial media platform.

In some implementations, the method further includes: receiving a secondresponse of a third user to the posted content; determining whether aresponse type of the second response corresponds to the permissibleresponse type for the posted content from the data store; and inresponse to determining that the response type of the second responsecorresponds to the permissible response type, providing the secondresponse for display on the social media platform, wherein the firstresponse and the second response are displayed in a nondeterministicorder.

In some implementations, the posted content comprises a link to a mediaitem to be provided with the posted content. In some implementations,the permissible response type is a poll. In some implementations, thepermissible response type is a ranked submission. In someimplementations, the permissible response type is a comment. In someimplementations, the permissible response type is a media item.

Computing devices for performing the operations of the above describedmethods and the various implementations described herein are disclosed.Computer-readable media that store instructions for performingoperations associated with the above described methods and the variousimplementations described herein are also disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example, and not by wayof limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary network architecturein which implementations of the present disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing an onlineengagement platform for content creators, according to animplementation.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for managing responses toa post of a user of a social media platform, according to animplementation.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example channel graphical user interface inaccordance with some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example post creation graphical user interface inaccordance with some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system inwhich aspects of the disclosure can be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the disclosure are directed to providing an online engagementplatform for content creators.

Many content creators typically develop an online presence beyond theirprimary social media platform which may be, for example, a video-basedcontent sharing platform. For instance, content creators who primarilyuse a video-based content sharing platform may also interact withviewers on other social media platforms such as various social networkplatforms. Content creators usually use these types of secondary socialmedia platforms to interact with viewers in ways that a video-basedcontent sharing platform may not currently allow (e.g., initiating anonline conversation with viewers of videos of a content creator).Furthermore, content creators who use social network platforms for suchinteractions may typically be subject to an overwhelming volume ofcomments and responses that are not of any interest to the contentcreators (spam responses).

Aspects of the present disclosure address the above and otherdeficiencies by supplementing a video-based content sharing platformwith an online engagement platform that allows content creators (e.g.,video channel owners) to engage in communication with their viewers onthe video-based content sharing platform and to control how the viewersare permitted to interact with content posted by the content creator onthe video-based content sharing platform. The operations describedherein allow channel owners to structure viewer outreach and deliver itvia posts through straightforward, task-oriented graphical userinterfaces (GUIs) that are easy and enjoyable to use for both channelowners and channel content viewers. Posts by a channel owner can be madeavailable to the public or limited to a defined group (e.g., recentchannel subscribers, channel subscribers in New York, top commenters,etc.). Content creators may define permissive response types to controlhow a viewer is allowed to engage with a particular post, therebyavoiding spam responses and limiting the volume of comments.

In one example, a channel owner may wish to create a social post askingviewers to submit videos, which may be ranked by the viewers in acompetition. The channel owner may, via a GUI on the content sharingplatform, provide the posted content (e.g., the title of the post, thebody of the post requesting the video submissions, any attachments tothe post, etc.). The channel owner may also provide via the GUI apermissible response type for future responses to the posted content. Inthe present example, the channel owner may only allow viewers to submitvideo responses to the post. Furthermore, the channel owner may specifythat viewers' responses may be limited to voting (e.g., up or down),without submitting comments.

Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure provide a mechanism forsupplementing content of channel owners with viewer engagement componentthat is easy, convenient and enjoyable to use for channel owners andchannel content viewers. As a result, a content sharing platform is ableto attract more video creators and more channel content viewers and isable to increase the amount of time that both channel owners and channelcontent viewers spend on the content sharing platform. In addition, byallowing channel owners to control what responses viewers are permittedto submit via the engagement component, aspects of the presentdisclosure avoid subjecting channel owners to unwanted responses (spam)and also limit the volume of comments received by the channel owners.

The present disclosure often references media items for simplicity andbrevity. However, the teaching of the present disclosure can be appliedto various types of content or media items, including for example,video, audio, text, images, program instructions, etc. The media itemsreferred to herein represent viewable and/or shareable media items.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system architecture 100 that includesclient devices 110 a through 110 z, a network 105, a data store 106, acontent sharing platform 120, and a server 130. In one implementation,network 105 may include a public network (e.g., the Internet), a privatenetwork (e.g., a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN)), awired network (e.g., Ethernet network), a wireless network (e.g., an802.11 network or a Wi-Fi network), a cellular network (e.g., a LongTerm Evolution (LTE) network), routers, hubs, switches, servercomputers, and/or a combination thereof. In one implementation, the datastore 106 may be a memory (e.g., random access memory), a cache, a drive(e.g., a hard drive), a flash drive, a database system, or another typeof component or device capable of storing data. The data store 106 mayalso include multiple storage components (e.g., multiple drives ormultiple databases) that may also span multiple computing devices (e.g.,multiple server computers).

The client devices 110 a through 110 z may each include computingdevices such as personal computers (PCs), laptops, mobile phones, smartphones, tablet computers, network connected televisions, netbookcomputers etc. In some implementations, client device 110 a through 110z may also be referred to as “user devices.” Each client device includesa respective media viewer 112 a-z. In one implementation, the mediaviewers 112 a-z may be applications that allow users to view content,such as images, videos (e.g., video content items), web pages,documents, etc. For example, the media viewers 112 a-z may be a webbrowser that can access, retrieve, present, and/or navigate content(e.g., web pages such as Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) pages,digital media items or content items, etc.) served by a web server. Themedia viewers 112 a-z may render, display, and/or present the content(e.g., a web page, a media viewer) to a user. The media viewers 112 a-zmay also display an embedded media player (e.g., a Flash® player or anHTML5 player) that is embedded in a web page (e.g., a web page that mayprovide information about a product sold by an online merchant). Inanother example, the media viewers 112 a-z may be a standaloneapplication that allows users to view digital media content items (e.g.,digital videos, digital images, electronic books, etc.).

The media viewers 112 a-z may be provided to the client devices 110 athrough 110 z by the server 130 and/or content sharing platform 120. Forexample, the media viewers 112 a-z may be embedded media players thatare embedded in web pages provided by the content sharing platform 120.In another example, the media viewers 112 a-z may be applications thatcommunicate with the server 130.

In general, functions described in one implementation as being performedby the content sharing platform 120 can also be performed on the clientdevices 110 a through 110 z in other implementations, if appropriate. Inaddition, the functionality attributed to a particular component can beperformed by different or multiple components operating together. Thecontent sharing platform 120 can also be accessed as a service providedto other systems or devices through appropriate application programminginterfaces, and thus is not limited to use in websites.

In one implementation, the content sharing platform 120 may be one ormore computing devices (such as a rackmount server, a router computer, aserver computer, a personal computer, a mainframe computer, a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, a network connected television, a desktopcomputer, etc.), data stores (e.g., hard disks, memories, databases),networks, software components, and/or hardware components that may beused to provide a user with access to media items (also referred to ascontent items) and/or provide the media items to the user. For example,the content sharing platform 120 may allow a user to consume, upload,search for, approve of (“like”), dislike, and/or comment on media items.The content sharing platform 120 may also include a website (e.g., awebpage) that may be used to provide a user with access to the mediaitems.

In implementations of the disclosure, a “user,” a “content creator” or a“channel owner” may be represented as a single individual. However,other implementations of the disclosure encompass a “user,” a “contentcreator” or a “channel owner” being an entity controlled by a set ofusers and/or an automated source. For example, a set of individual usersfederated as a community in a social network may be considered a “user,”a “content creator” or a “channel owner.” In another example, anautomated consumer may be an automated ingestion pipeline, such as atopic channel, of the content sharing platform 120.

The content sharing platform 120 may include multiple channels (e.g.,channels A through Z). A channel can be data content available from acommon source or data content having a common topic, theme, orsubstance. The data content can be digital content chosen by a user,digital content made available by a user, digital content uploaded by auser, digital content chosen by a content provider, digital contentchosen by a broadcaster, etc. For example, a channel X can includevideos Y and Z. A channel can be associated with an owner, who is a userthat can perform actions on the channel. Different activities can beassociated with the channel based on the owner's actions, such as theowner making digital content available on the channel, the ownerselecting (e.g., liking) digital content associated with anotherchannel, the owner commenting on digital content associated with anotherchannel, etc. The activities associated with the channel can becollected into an activity feed for the channel. Users, other than theowner of the channel, can subscribe to one or more channels in whichthey are interested. The concept of “subscribing” may also be referredto as “liking”, “following”, “friending”, and so on.

Once a user subscribes to a channel, the user can be presented withinformation from the channel's activity feed. If a user subscribes tomultiple channels, the activity feed for each channel to which the useris subscribed can be combined into a syndicated activity feed.Information from the syndicated activity feed can be presented to theuser. Channels may have their own feeds. For example, when navigating toa home page of a channel on the content sharing platform, feed itemsproduced by that channel may be shown on the channel home page. Usersmay have a syndicated feed, which is a feed comprised of at least asubset of the content items from all of the channels to which the useris subscribed. Syndicated feeds may also include content items fromchannels that the user is not subscribed. For example, the contentsharing platform 120 or other social networks may insert recommendedcontent items into the user's syndicated feed, or may insert contentitems associated with a related connection of the user in the syndicatedfeed.

Each channel may include one or more media items 121 a-n and 122 a-n(i.e., content items). Examples of media items 121 a-n and 122 a-n caninclude, and are not limited to, digital video, digital movies, digitalphotos, digital music, website content, social media updates, electronicbooks (ebooks), electronic magazines, digital newspapers, digital audiobooks, electronic journals, web blogs, real simple syndication (RSS)feeds, electronic comic books, software applications, etc. In someimplementations, media items 121 a-n and 122 a-n are also referred to asa video content item.

Media items 121 a-n and 122 a-n may be consumed via the Internet and/orvia a mobile device application. For brevity and simplicity, an onlinevideo (also hereinafter referred to as a video content item) is used asan example of a media items 121 a-n and 122 a-n throughout thisdocument. As used herein, “media,” media item,” “online media item,”“digital media,” “digital media item,” “content,” “content item,” and“video content item” can include an electronic file that can be executedor loaded using software, firmware or hardware configured to present thedigital media item to an entity. In one implementation, the contentsharing platform 120 may store the media items 121 a-n and 122 a-n usingthe data store 106.

In one implementation, the server 130 may be one or more computingdevices (e.g., a rackmount server, a server computer, etc.). The server130 may be included in the content sharing platform 120 or be part of adifferent system. The server 130 may host a online communicationplatform 140 that provides graphical user interfaces and operations toallow a channel owner to engage in communication with viewers of thechannel of the channel owner. Further details with regard to the onlinecommunication platform 140 are disclosed below in conjunction with FIGS.2 and 3.

Although implementations of the disclosure are discussed in terms ofcontent sharing platforms and promoting social network sharing of acontent item on the content sharing platform, implementations may alsobe generally applied to any type of social media platform providingconnections between users. Such social media platforms are not limitedto content sharing platforms that provide channel subscriptions to usersand include social network platforms as well.

In situations in which the systems discussed here collect personalinformation about users, or may make use of personal information, theusers may be provided with an opportunity to control whether the contentsharing platform 120 collects user information (e.g., information abouta user's social network, social actions or activities, profession, auser's preferences, a user's purchase transaction history, or a user'scurrent location), or to control whether and/or how to receive contentfrom the content server that may be more relevant to the user. Inaddition, certain data may be treated in one or more ways before it isstored or used, so that personally identifiable information is removed.For example, a user's identity may be treated so that no personallyidentifiable information can be determined for the user, or a user'sgeographic location may be generalized where location information isobtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level), so that aparticular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, the user mayhave control over how information is collected about the user and usedby the content sharing platform 120.

FIGS. 3-4 depict flow diagrams for illustrative examples of methods 300and 400 for providing an online engagement platform. Methods 300 and 400may be performed by processing devices that may include hardware (e.g.,circuitry, dedicated logic), software (such as is run on a generalpurpose computer system or a dedicated machine), or a combination ofboth. Methods 300 and 400 and each of their individual functions,routines, subroutines, or operations may be performed by one or moreprocessors of the computer device executing the method. In certainimplementations, methods 300 and 400 may each be performed by a singleprocessing thread. Alternatively, methods 300 and 400 may be performedby two or more processing threads, each thread executing one or moreindividual functions, routines, subroutines, or operations of themethod.

For simplicity of explanation, the methods of this disclosure aredepicted and described as a series of acts. However, acts in accordancewith this disclosure can occur in various orders and/or concurrently,and with other acts not presented and described herein. Furthermore, notall illustrated acts may be required to implement the methods inaccordance with the disclosed subject matter. In addition, those skilledin the art will understand and appreciate that the methods couldalternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states via astate diagram or events. Additionally, it should be appreciated that themethods disclosed in this specification are capable of being stored onan article of manufacture to facilitate transporting and transferringsuch methods to computing devices. The term “article of manufacture,” asused herein, is intended to encompass a computer program accessible fromany computer-readable device or storage media.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 200 for providing anonline engagement platform for content creators, according to animplementation. In one implementation, method 200 is performed by onlinecommunication platform 140 and/or content sharing platform 120 of FIG.1.

Referring to FIG. 2, at block 202, processing logic provides a channelGUI for presentation to a channel owner. A channel owner may be a userof a content sharing platform who created a channel or is managing achannel on the content sharing platform. A channel owner may view thechannel GUI via a client device (e.g., client device 110). In oneimplementation, the channel GUI allows the channel owner to performvarious operations related to management of the channel of the channelowner. For example, the channel GUI may allow the channel owner toupload new media content items (e.g., videos, audios, etc.) to thechannel, remove media content items from the channel, manage channelprivacy settings, etc. In one implementation, the channel GUI may allowthe channel owner to activate, via selectable GUI elements, variousoptions that may be associated with the channel, including, for example,an option to enable an online community feature for the channel to allowcommunication between the channel owner and other users of the contentsharing platform (e.g., viewers of the channel). Alternatively, anonline community option can be enabled via a different user interface.

At block 204, processing logic receives, via the channel GUI, a requestof the channel owner to enable the online community option. In oneimplementation, processing logic receives the request of the channelowner from a client device 110. The channel owner may initiate therequest by activating (e.g., selecting) a designated GUI element of thechannel GUI. In one implementation, the online community option isdisabled for the channel by default, and is enabled upon some actionperformed by the channel owner. In another implementation, the onlinecommunity option is enabled for the channel by default, and is disabledupon some action performed by the channel owner (e.g., via the GUIelement of the channel GUI).

At block 206, upon the request of the channel owner to enable the onlinecommunity option for the channel, processing logic may associate theonline community option with the channel in a data store (e.g., datastore 106 of FIG. 1). In one implementation, processing logic mayperform the association in response to a verification that the onlinecommunity option is available for the account associated with thechannel owner. In one embodiment, the online community option isavailable for the account of the channel owner if the account is in goodstanding with the content sharing platform.

At block 208, processing logic provides the channel GUI comprising a GUIelement representing the online community option for presentation to thechannel owner (e.g., by updating the channel GUI upon receiving therequest of the channel owner to enable the online community option). Inone implementation, the GUI element representing the online communityoption does not appear on the channel GUI until the online communityoption has been associated with the channel in the data store. The GUIelement may be a selectable link, icon or button on the channel GUI. Inone implementation, the GUI element may be displayed as one of the tabsthat allow a user to navigate through various GUIs pertaining to thechannel.

At block 209, processing logic receives a selection of the GUI elementrepresenting the online community option by the channel owner. At block210, in response to the selection of the GUI element representing theonline community option by the channel owner, processing logic providesan online community GUI to allow the channel owner to submit a post toinitiate an online conversation between the viewers of the channel andthe channel owner. The online community GUI may be displayed, forexample, in a pop-up window, a separate window. One example of an onlinecommunity GUI is discussed in more detail below in conjunction with FIG.4. A post may be an online communication that solicits viewers'responses. As will be discussed in more detail below, a post may beintended to initiate a poll, a discussion, a ranked submission, or thelike. In one implementation, only channel owners may create posts in theonline community GUI, and viewers may respond to the posts created bythe channel owner. Alternatively, viewers may also create posts in theonline community GUI associated with the channel owner.

In one implementation, to allow the channel owner to submit the post toinitiate the online conversation between the viewers of the channel andthe channel owner, processing logic may provide a post creation GUI tobe presented to the channel owner. The post creation GUI may include afirst GUI element (e.g., a text field) to receive the channel owner'sinput of a post title, a second GUI element (e.g., a text field) toreceive the channel owner's input of a post body, and a third GUIelement (e.g., a dropdown list) to receive the channel owner's input ofa permissible response type. The post creation GUI may also include afourth GUI element (e.g., a field) to receive the channel owner's inputof a post attachment type. More detailed description of the various GUIelements is provided with respect to FIGS. 3-5.

Once the post is created, it can be viewed by other users of the contentsharing platform. In particular, at block 211, processing logic mayreceive a request of a user of the content sharing platform to viewinformation about the channel. In response, at block 212, processinglogic provides the channel GUI that includes the GUI elementrepresenting the online community option for presentation to the user(referred to as a “viewer of the channel”). In one implementation, whenthe GUI element representing the online community option is associatedwith the channel in the data store, the GUI element is visible to thechannel owner and all viewers of the channel. In another embodiment, theGUI element may be only visible to the channel owner until furtheraction is taken by the channel owner to enable public visibility of theGUI element. In yet another embodiment, the GUI element is visible tothe channel owner and a subset of viewers of the channel. For example,the GUI element may be visible to subscribers of the channel, and maynot be visible to non-subscribers.

At block 213, processing logic receives a selection of the GUI elementrepresenting the online community option by the viewer of the channel.At block 214, in response to the selection of the GUI elementrepresenting the online community option by the viewer of the channel,processing logic provides the online community GUI including the post ofthe channel owner, and allows the viewer of the channel to respond tothe post of the channel owner. In one implementation, the onlinecommunity GUI presented to a viewer includes a feed of the posts createdby the channel owner. The posts in the feed may be presented in achronological order, a “post popular” order, or an order that placesposts that have not yet been viewed in the most prominent position. Inone implementation, the order of the posts is customizable by a viewer.

In one implementation, in response to receiving a response of the viewerto the post of the channel owner, processing logic may provide theresponse for display in the online community GUI. In anotherimplementation, processing logic may provide the response for display ina private online community GUI viewable by the channel owner. Additionaldetails describing posts and responses in the online community GUI areprovided with respect to FIGS. 3-5.

It should be noted that although method 200 of FIG. 2 is discussed withreference to a channel owner and a channel GUI, method 200 can besimilarly used for content creators such as video or audio creators.When used for video creators or audio creators, method 200 may integratean online community option into a video GUI or an audio GUIrespectively.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram 300 illustrating a method for managingresponses to a post of a user of a social media platform, according toan implementation. The social media platform may be, for example, acontent sharing platform or a social network platform. A user may be acontent (e.g., video) creator, a channel owner, or any other user of thesocial media platform. A post may be related to a video, channel or anyother content or topic, and may be intended to solicit responses fromcontent/channel viewers or any other users of the social media platform.In one example, method 300 is performed by online communication platform140.

Referring to FIG. 3, at block 302, processing logic receives first inputof a first user (e.g., a channel owner or video creator) posting contenton a social media platform. The content may be posted via a postcreation GUI on a client device of the first user (e.g., the postcreation GUI described with respect to FIG. 2). In one implementation,the first input specifies a permissible response type for futureresponses to the posted content. The permissible response type may beselected from a plurality of response types by the first user. Theplurality of response types may be defined by online communicationplatform 140.

A permissible response type determines in what form viewers arepermitted to respond to posted content. A permissible response type maybe “comment,” which may indicate that a viewer is only allowed to submittext in response to a post unless the first user also allows other typesof content to be provided with the comment. For example, the first usermay specify that a response to the posted content be allowed to includea media content item (e.g., video, audio or image) with the comment. Thefirst user may also specify whether the included media item should behosted on the social media platform to be permissible. The first usermay further specify whether links are permissible to include in acomment, and if so, what domains are permissible.

Other permissible response types may include: “poll,” which dictatesthat only selection of a provided poll option is an allowed responsetype; and “media item,” which dictates that users may submit a responsethat includes an image, video, GIF, etc., without additional text. Thefirst user may dictate whether poll results should be displayed toresponders either before or after a response is submitted or not at all.

Another permissible response type may be “ranked submission,” which maydictate that users submit a response that will be subject to ranking(either up or down) by other users. The first user may specify whetherany media item included in a ranked submission should be hosted on asocial media account associated with the responder. Additionalpermissible response types may include, for example, multi-questionquizzes, calendar events, and media purchasing (where a user maypurchase a media item in response to a post). In one implementation, thefirst user may choose to not allow responses at all. Further, in someimplementations, the first user may define (have control over) howresponses should be displayed. For example, the first user may specifythat a predefined number of responses should be displayed with the post,and that a selectable “see all responses” GUI element should be includedto allow viewers to see more responses. In another example, the firstuser may specify that all received responses be displayed with the post.

At block 304, processing logic receives the posted content provided bythe first user. The posted content may include a title of the post, abody of the post, and/or any attachments to the post. For example, thetitle of the post may be a short description of the post, to bedisplayed above the post. The body of the post may be the substance ofthe post and may include the content that the first user would like toshare with viewers. For example, the body of the post may include aquestion to be posed to viewers, a statement, a request for responses,etc. The attachment may be a media item to be presented with the post.For example, the first user may attach a video or image to a post, andask viewers to rate the video or image. The attachment may include alink to a media item or webpage to be provided with the post.Attachments may include linked videos to be displayed in-line with thebody of the post. Alternatively, the first user can link to a galleryand choose a single media item from the gallery to be displayed with thepost. In one embodiment, links over a threshold character count may beshortened to be displayed in the post. Attachments may be selected frommedia items already existing in a media library associated with thefirst user. Alternatively, the first user may upload a media item fromthe client device. The media item may be selected from a history ofmedia items that have been viewed and/or liked by the first user.

At block 306, processing logic associates the permissible response typereceived at block 302 with the posted content in a data store (e.g.,data store 106 of FIG. 1). In one implementation, the permissibleresponse type and the posted content are associated by correspondingidentifiers in the data store. The permissible response type and theposted content may share the same identifier. Alternatively, thepermissible response type and the posted content may each have uniqueidentifiers that are associated with each other.

At block 308, processing logic provides the posted content for displayon the social media platform. The posted content may be visible to allusers of the social media platform or a subset of the users. Forexample, the posted content may only be viewable by“subscribers”—viewers who “follow” the first user. Alternatively, theposted content may be viewable by any user of the social media platform.In another embodiment, the posts may be viewable by a group, but only asubset of that group may be able to interact with (e.g., respond to) thepost. For example, all users of the social media platform may be able toview the post, but only subscribers may be able to respond to it.

In one implementation, subscribers may be able to view the post invarious locations of the social media platform. For example, asubscriber may be provided a subscription feed, in which postsassociated with various subscriptions are aggregated. In oneimplementation, posts may be sent only to users meeting definedcharacteristics. For example, posts may be sent to users based ongeographical location, watch history, subscriber metrics (e.g.,subscribers who have subscribed in the past X number of days),engagement metrics (e.g., subscribers who comment the most), specialgroups (e.g., subscribers who have a particular status), and mixedtargeting (e.g., subscribers living in a certain region who have seenall the videos of the first user).

Furthermore, notifications may be sent to subscribers (e.g., from onlinecommunication platform 140 of FIG. 1) that have just subscribed, havenot visited in a defined amount of time, and/or use notifications as aprimary way to reach posts of the first user. A notification may be sentto subscribers who have not interacted with posted content in a definedamount of time (e.g., two weeks). The notification may allow thesubscriber to affirm subscriber status or unfollow the first user.Furthermore, subscribers may be sent badges after sufficient engagementwith posts of the first user.

In response to providing (making available) the posted content fordisplay on the social media platform, processing logic may send anotification to a subset of users of the social media platform. Thenotification may indicate that the posted content can be viewed on thesocial network platform. Advantageously, this may allow for followers ofthe first user to have the first opportunity to view and respond to theposted content. In an implementation, where earlier responses aredisplayed above subsequent responses, the subset of viewers (e.g., thesubscribers) will have the first opportunity to have the mostprominently displayed response.

At block 310, processing logic receives a first response of a seconduser (e.g., a viewer) to the posted content. The response is associatedwith a response type. In one implementation, when the second useractivates a GUI element on the online community GUI that indicates adesire to respond, a response GUI is provided that corresponds to thepermissible response type. For example, if the permissible response typefor posted content is “video only,” processing logic may provide a videoupload GUI for presentation to the user, where the video upload GUI doesnot include a GUI element (field) to submit text.

At block 312, processing logic determines whether a response type of thefirst response corresponds to the permissible response type for theposted content from the data store. In one implementation, processinglogic may determine that the first response is associated with aparticular post, determine the associated permissible response type ofthe post, and compare the permissible response type with the responsetype of the first response.

At block 314, responsive to determining that the response type of thefirst response corresponds to the permissible response type, processinglogic provides the first response for display on the social mediaplatform. In one implementation, the first response is privatelydisplayed to an account associated with the first user. As discussedabove, the first user may specify (e.g., via GUI 114 of FIG. 1) thatresponses to a particular post be private (responses should only bevisible by the first user). Advantageously, this allows the first userto conduct private polls or rankings. Furthermore, statistics associatedwith the post and responses may be calculated and privately provided tothe first user. Statistics may include: number of views, number ofresponses, number of subscriber responses and/or views, number of likes,etc. In another implementation, the first response may be publiclydisplayed to a plurality of users of the social media platform. Theplurality of users of the social media platform may include all users ofthe social media platform or a select subset.

At block 316, in response to determining that the response type of thefirst response does not correspond to the permissible response type,processing logic prevents the first response from being displayed on thesocial media platform. Processing logic may additionally receive asecond response of a third user to the posted content, determine whethera response type of the second response corresponds to the permissibleresponse type for the posted content from the data store, and inresponse to determining that the response type of the second responsecorresponds to the permissible response type, providing the secondresponse for display on the social media platform. In oneimplementation, the first response and the second response are displayedin a nondeterministic order. Advantageously, displaying responses in anondeterministic order may be beneficial when asking for users to rankresponses, so that the first response is not always at the top (andtherefore most often seen). In another implementation, the responses aredisplayed in the order in which they are received. In yet anotherimplementation, the responses are displayed in a ranked order (rankedeither by the first user or the other users of the social mediaplatform). In yet another implementation, the first user is able to“pin” his or her favorite responses to appear above the other responses.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example channel GUI 400 in accordance with someaspects of the disclosure. In one implementation, GUI 400 may beprovided by online communication platform 140 of server 130 of FIG. 1.GUI 400 may be provided to client device 110 of a channel owner oranother user. GUI 400 may display channel name 402 of the channel ownerand a set of tabs, which may include a tab to access a channel home pageGUI, a tab to access videos of the channel, and a community tab 404(e.g., the online community option described with respect to FIG. 2.When a channel owner navigates to the community tab initially (e.g.,before submitting a post), GUI 400 may display a selectable “add a post”GUI element 406, with instructions walking a channel owner through thecreation of a first post. In some implementations, once a channel ownerhas already created a first post, GUI 400 may display a selectable GUIelement to create a post without instructions describing the creationprocess. When a channel owner selects GUI element 406, a post creationGUI may be provided for display on client device 120 to allow thechannel owner to create a post.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example post creation GUI in accordance with someaspects of the disclosure. GUI 500 may allow, via various GUI elements,a user (e.g., a channel owner) to provide a post title, post body, postattachment, and a permissible response type, as described herein.

GUI 500 may include a field 502, in which a post title may be providedby a channel owner. The post title may be mandatory. The post title maybe subject to a character maximum, and may optionally include hashtags.GUI 500 may include a field 504, in which a body of the post may beprovided. In one implementation, field 504 may change depending on thepermissible response type selected (e.g., via GUI element 508). Forexample, field 504 may provide for the input of text, checkboxes, radialbuttons, hyperlinks, etc. GUI 500 may include GUI element 506, whichallows for the input of an attachment to the post. Attachments may beimages, videos, GIFS, locations and directions, hangout and/or groupchat initiations, or other media items. GUI element 506 may provide forthe upload of a media item itself or a link to where the media itemcurrently resides.

GUI element 508 of GUI 500 may allow a channel owner to select, from anumber of available options, a permissible response type for the post.In one implementation, the selected permissible response type determinesin what form users may respond to the post. In one implementation, asingle permissible response type may be selected from a number ofavailable permissible response types. As described herein, the inputprovided via GUI 500 may be sent to a server for processing oncesubmitted.

FIG. 6 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in theexemplary form of a computer system 600 within which a set ofinstructions, for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, may be executed. In alternativeimplementations, the machine may be connected (e.g., networked) to othermachines in a local area network (LAN), an intranet, an extranet, or theInternet. The machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in a client-server network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. Themachine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a networkconnected television, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a server, a networkrouter, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated,the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection ofmachines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets)of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. In one implementation, computer system 600 may berepresentative of a server, such as server 130, executing onlinecommunication platform 140, as described with respect to FIGS. 1-5. Inanother implementation, computer system 600 may be representative of aclient device, such as client device 110, executing a social mediaplatform and GUI 114, as described with respect to FIGS. 1-5.

The exemplary computer system 600 includes a processing device 602, amain memory 604 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM) (such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or RambusDRAM (RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 606 (e.g., flash memory, staticrandom access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data storage device 618, whichcommunicate with each other via a bus 608. Any of the signals providedover various buses described herein may be time multiplexed with othersignals and provided over one or more common buses. Additionally, theinterconnection between circuit components or blocks may be shown asbuses or as single signal lines. Each of the buses may alternatively beone or more single signal lines and each of the single signal lines mayalternatively be buses.

Processing device 602 represents one or more general-purpose processingdevices such as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like.More particularly, the processing device may be complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computer (RISC)microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, orprocessor implementing other instruction sets, or processorsimplementing a combination of instruction sets. Processing device 602may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor,or the like. The processing device 602 is configured to executeprocessing logic 626 for performing the operations and steps discussedherein.

The computer system 600 may further include a network interface device622. The computer system 600 also may include a video display unit 610(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), analphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 614 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 620 (e.g., aspeaker).

The data storage device 618 may include a computer-readable storagemedium 624 (also referred to as a machine-readable storage medium), onwhich is stored one or more set of instructions 626 (e.g., software)embodying any one or more of the methodologies of functions describedherein. The instructions 626 may also reside, completely or at leastpartially, within the main memory 604 and/or within the processingdevice 602 during execution thereof by the computer system 600; the mainmemory 604 and the processing device 602 also constitutingmachine-readable storage media. The instructions 626 may further betransmitted or received over a network 674 via the network interfacedevice 622.

The computer-readable storage medium 624 may also be used to storeinstructions to perform a method for control over response types in anonline engagement platform, as described herein. While thecomputer-readable storage medium 624 is shown in an exemplaryimplementation to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable storagemedium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media(e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated cachesand servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. Amachine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing informationin a form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine(e.g., a computer). The machine-readable medium may include, but is notlimited to, magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette); opticalstorage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read-onlymemory (ROM); random-access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory(e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; or another type of mediumsuitable for storing electronic instructions.

The preceding description sets forth numerous specific details such asexamples of specific systems, components, methods, and so forth, inorder to provide a good understanding of several implementations of thepresent disclosure. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art,however, that at least some implementations of the present disclosuremay be practiced without these specific details. In other instances,well-known components or methods are not described in detail or arepresented in simple block diagram format in order to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring the present disclosure. Thus, the specific details set forthare merely exemplary. Particular implementations may vary from theseexemplary details and still be contemplated to be within the scope ofthe present disclosure.

Reference throughout this specification to “one implementation” or “animplementation” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the implementation isincluded in at least one implementation. Thus, the appearances of thephrase “in one implementation” or “in an implementation” in variousplaces throughout this specification are not necessarily all referringto the same implementation. In addition, the term “or” is intended tomean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.”

Although the operations of the methods herein are shown and described ina particular order, the order of the operations of each method may bealtered so that certain operations may be performed in an inverse orderor so that certain operation may be performed, at least in part,concurrently with other operations. In another implementation,instructions or sub-operations of distinct operations may be in anintermittent and/or alternating manner.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, from aprocessing device of a content sharing platform, a request of a channelowner to enable an online community option to facilitate communicationsbetween the channel owner and viewers of a channel of the channel owneron the content sharing platform; associating the online community optionwith the channel in a data store; providing a channel graphical userinterface (GUI) comprising a GUI element representing the onlinecommunity option for presentation to the channel owner; in response to aselection of the GUI element representing the online community option bythe channel owner, providing an online community GUI to allow thechannel owner to submit a post to initiate an online conversationbetween the viewers of the channel and the channel owner; providing thechannel GUI comprising the GUI element representing the online communityoption for presentation to a viewer of the viewers of the channel; andin response to a selection of the GUI element representing the onlinecommunity option by the viewer of the channel, providing the onlinecommunity GUI comprising the post of the channel owner, and allowing theviewer of the channel to respond to the post of the channel owner. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein providing the online community GUI toallow the channel owner to submit the post comprises: providing a postcreation GUI comprising: a first GUI element to receive input of a posttitle; a second GUI element to receive input of a post body; and a thirdGUI element to receive input of a permissible response type.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the post creation GUI further comprises afourth GUI element to receive input of a post attachment type.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a response of theviewer to the post of the channel owner; and providing the response fordisplay to the viewers and the channel owner.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving a response of the viewer to the post ofthe channel owner; and providing the response for display to the channelowner but not other viewers.
 6. A method, comprising: receiving firstinput of a first user posting content on a social media platform, thefirst input specifying a permissible response type for future responsesto the posted content, the permissible response type being selected froma plurality of response types by the first user; receiving the postedcontent provided by the first user; associating the permissible responsetype with the posted content in a data store; providing the postedcontent for display on the social media platform; receiving a firstresponse of a second user to the posted content; determining, by aprocessing device, whether a response type of the first responsecorresponds to the permissible response type for the posted content fromthe data store; responsive to determining that the response type of thefirst response corresponds to the permissible response type, providing,by the processing device, the first response for display on the socialmedia platform; and responsive to determining that the response type ofthe first response does not correspond to the permissible response type,preventing, by the processing device, the first response from beingdisplayed on the social media platform.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein providing the posted content for display on the social mediaplatform comprises sending a notification to a subset of users of thesocial media platform, the notification identifying the posted content.8. The method of claim 6, wherein the first response is privatelydisplayed to an account associated with the first user.
 9. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the first response is publicly displayed to a pluralityof users of the social media platform.
 10. The method of claim 6,further comprising: receiving a second response of a third user to theposted content; determining whether a response type of the secondresponse corresponds to the permissible response type for the postedcontent from the data store; and in response to determining that theresponse type of the second response corresponds to the permissibleresponse type, providing the second response for display on the socialmedia platform, wherein the first response and the second response aredisplayed in a nondeterministic order.
 11. The method of claim 6,wherein the posted content comprises a link to a media item to beprovided with the posted content.
 12. A system comprising: a memory; anda processing device coupled to the memory, wherein the processing deviceis to: receive, from a content sharing platform, a request of a channelowner to enable an online community option to facilitate communicationsbetween the channel owner and viewers of a channel of the channel owneron the content sharing platform; associate the online community optionwith the channel in a data store; provide a channel graphical userinterface (GUI) comprising a GUI element representing the onlinecommunity option for presentation to the channel owner; in response to aselection of the GUI element representing the online community option bythe channel owner, provide an online community GUI to allow the channelowner to submit a post to initiate an online conversation between theviewers of the channel and the channel owner; provide the channel GUIcomprising the GUI element representing the online community option forpresentation to a viewer of the viewers of the channel; and in responseto a selection of the GUI element representing the online communityoption by the viewer of the channel, provide the online community GUIcomprising the post of the channel owner, and allowing the viewer of thechannel to respond to the post of the channel owner.
 13. The system ofclaim 12, wherein to provide the online community GUI to allow thechannel owner to submit the post, the processing device is to: provide apost creation GUI comprising: a first GUI element to receive input of apost title; a second GUI element to receive input of a post body; and athird GUI element to receive input of a permissible response type. 14.The system of claim 13, wherein the post creation GUI further comprisesa fourth GUI element to receive input of a post attachment type.
 15. Thesystem of claim 12, the processing device further to: receive a responseof the viewer to the post of the channel owner; and provide the responsefor display to the viewers and the channel owner.
 16. The system ofclaim 12, the processing device further to: receive a response of theviewer to the post of the channel owner; and provide the response fordisplay to the channel owner but not other viewers.
 17. A non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium storing instructions which, whenexecuted, cause a processing device to: receive, from a content sharingplatform, a request of a channel owner to enable an online communityoption to facilitate communications between the channel owner andviewers of a channel of the channel owner on the content sharingplatform; associate the online community option with the channel in adata store; provide a channel graphical user interface (GUI) comprisinga GUI element representing the online community option for presentationto the channel owner; in response to a selection of the GUI elementrepresenting the online community option by the channel owner, providean online community GUI to allow the channel owner to submit a post toinitiate an online conversation between the viewers of the channel andthe channel owner; provide the channel GUI comprising the GUI elementrepresenting the online community option for presentation to a viewer ofthe viewers of the channel; and in response to a selection of the GUIelement representing the online community option by the viewer of thechannel, provide the online community GUI comprising the post of thechannel owner, and allowing the viewer of the channel to respond to thepost of the channel owner.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium of claim 17, wherein to provide the online community GUIto allow the channel owner to submit the post, the processing device isto: provide a post creation GUI comprising: a first GUI element toreceive input of a post title; a second GUI element to receive input ofa post body; and a third GUI element to receive input of a permissibleresponse type.
 19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium ofclaim 18, wherein the post creation GUI further comprises a fourth GUIelement to receive input of a post attachment type.
 20. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, theprocessing device further to: receive a response of the viewer to thepost of the channel owner; and provide the response for display to thechannel owner but not other viewers.